Legends Scatter
by RainStorm4
Summary: The premise of this story is simple: What if Initiation had turned out completely differently and the teams hadn't formed the way they did? How would the characters and the story develop? This will stick to canon as closely as possible, and be a character-driven fic.
1. Chapter 1

**This takes place right after everyone has been launched off the cliff. Up until this point, nothing has changed. They've just been launched into the air while Ozpin uses his coffee cup to hide his boner (not really, but… maybe).**

* * *

 **CHAPTER ONE**

 **A Story Will Be Told**

Ruby hit the ground, snapped her head up, and took off.

Oh, this was bad, this was really bad. She had to find Yang, she had to find Yang, she had to find – "Yang?" she called, knowing she sounded like a calf lowing for its mother. "Yaaaaaang?"

Something shattered, far away, and Ruby swerved. It was usually a good bet that to find Yang, you simply had to follow the sound of massive objects shattering into a million pieces, regardless of age, weight or previous structural integrity. What explosives were to everything, Yang was to... everything else. And then sometimes those same things. That the explosives...What had she been thinking?

What if she didn't find her? What if someone else found her first? There was always Jaune. He was nice. And funny! But that little voice at the back of her head – the one that sounded like Qrow if Qrow ever lost that final spark of darkling humour – kept whispering to her: _weak…weak…weak…_

What about Blake? So mysterious, so calm. Tough, too, if the way she dealt with that horrible pale girl was any indication. On the other hand… the part of Ruby that was a fifteen-year-old girl was trying to imagine holding a conversation with her and, well, failing. And this time it wasn't even her own social anxiety! This time it was _Blake's_ social – not-social-ness.

Who else was there? There was Jaune… Blake…Yang…and…

"Oh noooo…."

Through the bushes Ruby could see a flash of white, like untouched snow, like unmarked paper, like the wind-bleached bones of a corpse. There was only one thing it could mean: nobody else had worn pure white to go tramping through the forest.

In a moment the future unfolded before Ruby's eyes. She would run into Weiss. Her silver eyes would meet Weiss' cold blue ones. Weiss would be her usual dismissive self, and that usual dismissive self would become Ruby's partner. They would finish this trial and then Weiss would use her name and her bossiness to be made the leader of whatever team they were on. For four years Weiss would reign supreme, an unchallenged, unchallengable tyrant… and then they would graduate and the only escape for Ruby would be found in the bottom of a Beowolf's stomach.

Forever. An eternity of endless coldness, her voice like a howling winter's gale ringing in Ruby's ears, always telling her _Not good enoooooouuuuugggghhhh…._

Ruby reached for her Semblance and she fled. She bolted right past Weiss, head down so that she didn't make eye contact. She thought she heard a startled 'Hey!' but she didn't stop to find out. She ran from the future, zigzagging like a scared hare, leaping around trees and vaulting fallen logs, until finally, finally, she ran out of breath.

Satisfied that the awful bossy girl had been left behind, Ruby paused to listen, and at the edge of her hearing, she heard an explosion.

Ruby started running again. She liked to think she learned from her mistakes, and she didn't intend to be caught out by anyone else. Yang was going to be her partner if Ruby had to kill every other student in her path to reach her.

Without making eye contact, of course.

* * *

Blake Belladonna walked through the forest. Everything was quiet and motionless, but her nerves were still prickling.

Something was watching her.

Only her eyes gave away her tension: they were skating from side to side, trying to pick up anything that did not belong in the lush greenery.

Something rustled to the right, and Blake didn't bother to take a moment to think. It could be a student, but if it wasn't…She leaped into the air, straight from a standing position, and landed among the branches of the tree above her. Hidden by the leaves, close to the trunk, she settled in to wait.

A boy walked under her tree. He moved smoothly and quickly, and his green coat blended well with the dappled light of the forest. A streak of pink in his hair shone brightly as he passed through a patch of sunlight, then faded into a lighter streak of darkness as he stepped back into shadows.

Blake Belladonna watched him go and began to consider her options. She had been willing to leave it to chance, but apparently chance was off drinking in a bar somewhere. Partner selection was now her choice, which made it her problem. A few months ago she would have thought of it as her responsibility, but look where that dutiful attitude had gotten her... No. This was a problem: She could show herself to this boy, but something inside her was rebelling. She had ignored her instincts for too long. Insanity was doing the same thing and expecting different results, wasn't it?

She wanted a different result. She wanted it so terribly, terribly much.

The sound of gunfire rang out, loud and clear, and Blake almost fell out of her tree. While she had pondered the boy, he had disappeared from her eyeshot. She leaped to the next tree over, then scampered around to the other side of the trunk, so that she could see between the leaves. It looked out onto a clearing, where the pink-haired boy had engaged a King Taijitu in one-on-one combat.

Foolish, Blake thought dispassionately. Foolish and reckless and headstrong. Why did you have to disturb it? Why not simply go around it? Typical, arrogant, sword-wielding fool. She turned to disappear back into the forest, but an alarmed cry rang out behind her, and she swung around once more.

He'd been disarmed. Two green blades – no, two green guns with blades attached, almost an afterthought – flew through the air and hit the ground. He watched them go and a strange look of pain twisted his face. She waited for him to turn after him, but he turned back to the problem at hand, which was currently looming over him, a black-and-white spectre of destruction, hissing the death knell for the pool fool who had stumbled into its killing ground.

Blake started to leap out of the tree to defend him, but as she hit the ground and rolled to her feet, the boy suddenly straightened and flung his hand up. The black head lunged at him, then slammed to a halt, as did Blake, her eyes wide with astonishment.

Frozen in place, Blake watched, fascinated, as boy and Grimm stood wavering. The boy had the beast's fangs pressed against his hands, and he was holding his ground. Then she flinched as the boy suddenly exploded into action. He snapped the fang off and slammed it into the beast's eye in one fluid movement. The King Taijitu recoiled, hissing fiercely, and the boy stepped up with an open-palm strike that destroyed the head entirely.

The explosion brought her to her senses. Backing out of view, she watched him charge the white head. That settled her mind. With a final look, Blake turned and disappeared into the shadows, away from the boy, leaving him to the battle he clearly craved.

She had had enough of senseless bloodshed for one lifetime. Blake Belladonna kept walking, determined to find a new path. It would be one without hot-headed warriors. It would be one surrounded by people that she trusted. Blake Belladonna's path was going to be a righteous one, and this time, she was going to get it _right._

* * *

"Helloooo?" Yang called impatiently, striding through the forest. "Is anyone out there? Hellooo! Getting bored here!" Something rustled behind her and she brightened. "Is someone there?"

"Ruby is that you?" She watched the darkness lengthen and bobbed her head. " _Nope_." She lunged to the side as an Ursa charged her, then rolled again as its partner emerged from the opposite side of the clearing. One charged her and she punched it away, then kicked the other one, using Ember Celica to send it flying.

"You guys wouldn't happen to have seen a girl in a red hood, would you?" Though they _were_ still alive – or whatever – so probably not. Yang would have _liked_ to think that Ruby would be sensible enough to steer clear of two Grimm this size, but she also would have liked a fluffy orange kitten, a motorbike that wasn't an imported piece of crap, and Spruce Willis as her poolboy. Oh, and a pool! "You could just say no," she added, shaken from her daydreams by the Ursa roaring at her.

The thing clawed wildly at her. She dodged out of the way and came to her feet, laughing. Dad had been right. If you knew what you were doing Grimm weren't hard. Dangerous? Naturally. Fun? Duh! But not hard.

She laughed out loud again at the sheer exhilaration of it all. Her blood was pumping through her heart like fire. The world was suddenly crystal clear, and beautiful with it. "Geez, you couldn't hit the broad side of a bar–"

A flash of gold, drifting past her eyes. A glimpse of sunlight, of suns not risen, of suns that had set long ago. Treasure, spun from her blood, more precious to her than life itself.

"You – you MONSTERS!"

She wasn't sure what happened next. All she knew is that it involved violence. Lots of violence. It always did, when her precious, precious hair was damaged. When she came to, the Ursae were dead.

Yang bent down, picked up the hair, and tenderly tucked it into her pocket. She'd be sure to give it a decent burial when she found somewhere nice. Somewhere with flowers. Somewhere with sunlight. Somewhere where it could rest in peace, away from this cruel and uncaring world.

Something else growled behind her, and she spun, brushing away a single diamond tear. That sounded like more Ursa. With blood thrumming in her veins, and vengeance in her heart, Yang Xiao Long went hunting through the forest.

* * *

Weiss stared after the crowd of red rose petals in considerable confusion.

Was that that spastic hooded girl? What was going on? How could she not have seen Weiss?

Wait…

Did she just… _ditch_ Weiss?

Weiss bit her lip furiously, then hastily made herself stop. Biting your lip roughened it. Grinding your teeth wore them down. Clenching your fingers was alright: if anyone saw, you just segued into some finger strengthening exercises. They'd think you were coarse, but at least not ill-tempered. If you were very lucky they'd admire your keenness for your training.

Weiss squared her shoulders. She didn't want to be that Ruby girl's partner anyway. She clearly wasn't one of the types of people that Weiss Schnee of the Schnee Dust Company should be associating with. There was something fishy in a fifteen-year-old getting into Beacon, anyway. The horrid little lowlife had probably gotten in because she knew someone, or something similar. It was hard to imagine her with any sort of _important_ connection, but if she came from a family of Hunters, then possibly one of her relatives had gotten lucky and strayed across the path of someone who actually meant something.

Fuming, she turned and stalked off, going in the opposite direction than the one the hooded girl had gone. She was not going to trail behind her like some limp little duckling. She was going to forge her own path. She was going to find someone _worthy_ of her.

The familiar ache started in her gut, and she thrust it down fiercely. This was completely different, and that _girl_ was not Winter. That girl would never be Winter. It was different. It _was_.

Weiss was ready for this. She knew she was. She just needed a strong team. She needed the best. She was the best, and like called to like. Weiss was ready, and _nobody_ was going to stand in her way.

* * *

Ren wanted to catch his breath once the King Taijitu was dead, but he knew he had seen someone else in the clearing with him. Once he was certain that the last few spasms were just the Grimm's brain (or equivalent – Ren was up to date on the current Grimm literature btu it was hard to perform a clinical autopsy on a pile of ash) accepting it was dead, he turned and jogged to the edge of the clearing.

His breath thudding painfully in his throat, he knelt on the ground. There was no blood, but were those footprints? Maybe. He had learned to track so long ago, when he was so young, that sometimes it was hard to be sure whether he was seeing things.

That, though, that scuff; a boot heel, wasn't it? A small discolouration on the moss, from the sole, and then a deeper indent from a heeled shoe. Heels, so a girl. There _had_ been a girl here.

Why hadn't she stayed? Why hadn't she _helped_?

Ren rose to his feet and shook his head in irritation. It was really poor form. A _dick-move_ , as Nora might say. You didn't leave someone to fight all on their own. You didn't have to jump into the middle of a battle, but you didn't abandon anyone. The first rule, in Lie Ren's mind: no person left behind.

He took a deep breath to regain his serenity, and decided to take advantage of his Semblance. Nora could find him – Nora almost certainly would find him – but he wasn't really in the mood to wait for her and he certainly wasn't up to fighting another Grimm. He closed his eyes, and let his Aura ripple over his skin like cool water. It was all in his head, he knew; his Aura could be active and he'd still be sweating bullets if it got too hot.

Ren opened his eyes again. He preferred not to see, when he activated his Semblance. The world always seemed subtly different. It was difficult for him to put his finger on, but it was there, and if he had his eyes open, then the difference would drag at his attention, distracting him from what was important.

Ren scooped up his weapons and started out for these alleged ruins.

It really was a beautiful day.

And then something struck him in the side like a battering ram.

* * *

Pyrrha stepped cautiously around the tree and paused to scope out the clearing.

Reckless. Reckless, and foolish, and _arrogant_. Why on earth had she done that? It was so _like_ her. She would just charge in head first and ruin everything. Jaune had been so nice to her, and now he'd think she was a – a – an idiot! He would have been _fine_. He was probably like that blonde girl, he had probably been having the time of his life and then Pyrrha had just waltzed in and like a bull in a china shop she had ruined _everything._

No, she told herself firmly. He had called out to thank her. He had appreciated the gesture. It would be fine, he'd understand. He was so nice! He wouldn't _mind._ It wasn't a reflection on his skills, of course, she'd have to explain that, but it was just her mistake. He seemed like the sort of person who'd understand that people made mistakes, surely? Surely.

She decided it was safe to step out, and did so. A ray of sunlight illuminated her as she did so, a beautiful sleekness of skin, armour and hair that moved like a hunting beast. She was being cautious, without her spear, her round shield already on her arm in case anything surprised her.

The forest was terribly still. There had probably been birds in the trees before Pyrrha had destroyed them. In the far off distance she could hear explosions, shifting and dancing every time the wind changed.

Despite herself, Pyrrha smiled. She had been at Beacon for all of a day, and already she had met two people who seemed to like her for herself. Jaune was delightful, and Weiss seemed very pleasant. Admittedly, she had opened the conversation by complimenting Pyrrha on her performance in the last Mystral Tournament – and had seemed terribly offended when Jaune hadn't recognised her – but _she_ had started the conversation.

Even if she had only wanted to be Pyrrha's partner, and not her friend...

Stop it, Pyrrha told herself firmly. You are Pyrrha Nikos. You can do this. This is your chance to make _friends_. This will be a new start for you. The world is full of promise, and you _will_ make the most of it. Things will be different, now. They will be _better_.

This could be the best decision she had ever made, coming here.

Something growled from the edge of her hearing, and she sped up ever so slightly.

That was assuming that throwing her spear away didn't prove to be the _worst_ decision she had ever made.

As she vaulted a fallen tree, passing into the pool of sunlight its demise had left, something rustled. Pyrrha hit the ground, rolled and came up with her shield held in front of her, eyes ranging from side to side in case it was a typical Beowulf flanking attack.

She saw what was facing her, and Pyrrha Nikos' heart dropped as if it had been launched off the cliff.

* * *

Jaune wriggled helplessly, trying to get his hands around to behind his head. This was not a good omen. This was _embarrassing_ , and it was certainly not how Jaune had imagined his time at Beacon beginning.

Though arguably, his time at Beacon had begun by, well, upchucking into a rubbish bin. Maybe that had been the omen he should have paid attention to.

He braced his legs, got a good grip with both hands, and pushed, putting all the strength in his legs and back into it as well as his arms. His body weight was taken off the javelin, just for an instant, and he managed to tug it free of the bark.

On cue, he fell to the ground, landing hard enough to add a new layer of bruises to his increasing collection.

For a moment he lay still, rotating his feet to check he still could. Then, winded, he stumbled to his feet. After a second he picked up the javelin. It would be rude to leave Pyrrha's stuff lying around the forest. Besides, if he failed, as he almost certainly would, maybe he could sell it online, make some money to catch an airship home...

He snorted at himself. Was that how a life of crime began? Forge your records to get into a world-class combat school, then start robbing people left right and centre? It had been a joke, mostly.

He really didn't have any fare for a ride home, unless he called his parents and asked for some.

The idea made Jaune square his shoulders, take a deep breath, and stride off into the forest, the javelin of a peerless warrior clutched in his fist.

* * *

Nora couldn't brake like Ren could, but she, like most people over the age of twelve, was far tougher than her partner, and could simply land. She hit the ground, bounced like a stone across the surface of a pond, and began to skip through the forest at a breakneck pace.

She did need to find Ren. That was indisputable. She and Ren were together. That was how things were. That was how things had to be. Ren and Nora, Nora and Ren. Renora. Nen. Ren was her partner, now and forever.

"Nen, nen, nen," she hummed tunelessly, still skipping. Maybe the Grimm would come and find her. That would be fun, and then Ren could track her through the sound of the explosions because there was no way Ren was going to use the sloth call. It wasn't his fault. He didn't know what sloths sounded like. He probably didn't know what they looked like.

Nora sped up, humming louder. "Sloth, sloth, slothy sloth sloth," she added, watching the shadows shift from the corner of her eye. Beowolves. Typical. Just because they couldn't make noise and pay attention to things at the same time, they assumed that humans couldn't either.

She waited a few moments, judging her strikes, and then swung Magnhild, backhanded, catching the first Beowolf just as it lunged for her. She continued the swing, pivoting in a wide circle, sending three more crashing into each other like airborne dominoes. Then she planted Magnhild, triggered an explosion, and rode her hammer over their heads and out of the closing circle.

They turned to follow her, but she was ready for them. Her hammer shifted and a single grenade ended the entire pack before they even realised that she had stopped running.

Nora watched the ash float in the wind, and her habitual smile widened. Then it fell. Ren was meant to be able to track her through the explosions. She had tried too hard. This is what she got for being a responsible Huntress. Well, she wouldn't make that mistake again.

Nora, her grenade-launcher clutched in her hand, began to skip through the forest again, humming to herself, landing on every dead stick she could see. She needed more Grimm. She needed _lots_ more Grimm.

The forest seemed distressingly empty though. Nora was all alone. Nora didn't like being all alone. She felt her smile slip, and reapplied it, her eyes bright with determination. It was an illusion. She hadn't been alone since – well, for a very long time. Loneliness wasn't real, it was just a, what had that guy said once? A 'moral weakness'? No, a 'failure of character'? Something like that. It was just her mind, playing tricks on her. She wasn't really alone, she just wasn't trying hard enough. Ren was here, and she would find him, if she had to burn the forest to the ground to do so.

Sometimes Nora worried that wanton destruction was all she was. At other times, she embraced it.

But it didn't matter what she was, because she could hide in Ren's shadow like a creature under a rock, and he would be the only one to ever see her. And he had never seemed to mind what he saw. She needed Ren. She needed him to see her. His eyes were all that reached her, these days, and she needed them to reach her now.

Nora's smile was still in place, but her eyes told a very different story. That was fine, of course; so few people looked past the smile.

A bush rustled, and Nora stopped and reformed Manghildr into a hammer. This area of the forest wasn't ideal for a fight: the trees were too close together but that, like loneliness, was an intangible problem, as trees had a tendency not to survive Nora's presence in their area for a very long time.

Nora braced herself, raised her hammer, and then dropped it once more as the smile fled from her face.

Things were not turning out well.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

 **Red Like Heartsblood Fills My Dreams**

Weiss hadn't had a fall like that in years now, not since she had first mastered her gravity-manipulation glyphs. She had forgotten how befuddling it was.

Normally keeping herself oriented was the easiest thing in the world for someone who danced at right angles to the floor. Of course _normally_ , Weiss had the room to herself, without any long-haired brunette girls to trip over. Apparently when _they_ were introduced to the equation, a fall involved a lot of tumbling and skidding and bouncing. Her sense of direction did not survive intact. Good heavens, was there any girl at this school who was not a complete _oaf_?

Her new acquaintance seemed just as perplexed as Weiss, which did nothing to endear her to the heiress. She had come out of nowhere, stepping out from behind a tree like a genie from a lamp, and Weiss, who had taken a running jump to clear a small ditch and some tree roots that crumpled the ground beyond like warped plastic, hadn't seen her in time to dodge. Now they lay tangled together beneath a tree, Weiss draped over the girl's stomach and hips, Weiss' legs trapped beneath and between the newcomers', and her rapier wedged beneath the new girl's rear end.

Shaken, Weiss pushed herself up as much as she could. "Ex _cuse_ you!" she said, bracing herself on the girl's shoulders in order to meet a pair of bright pink eyes.

"I think you'll find that _you_ walked into me." It was a smooth voice, and the words were quite mild and without heat, but something about it seemed off for a girl. Dazed as she was, it took Weiss a few seconds to realise precisely what _._

When it finally clicked, Weiss yelped and flung herself backwards. The boy sat upright as she did so, and after a few moments they managed to reclaim their respective legs. Then the boy clambered to his feet and began brushing down the sleeves of his green coat, not looking at her or offering to help her up.

Weiss was blushing even harder now, if that was possible, and that _enraged_ her. She realised she was still sitting down, and scrabbled to her feet. "Why weren't you looking where you were going?" she demanded.

The boy gave her a level look that said more clearly than words ever could _Why weren't you_? "Are you injured?" he asked instead.

"No. I'm fine." She took a deep breath. "I – apologise. I quite obviously..." She hesitated, not sure how to finish that sentence.

"Think nothing of it," the boy said, looking away from her and back to the surrounding forest.

Weiss cleared her throat. It was a _boy_ , and she had been draped across him like the heroine of one of those tawdry romances her mother liked to read. Hopefully she could suggest to him at some point that he never, _ever_ , mention this to _anyone._ But at least it wasn't that hooded girl... "Let's start over. I'm Weiss Schnee."

He finally, finally glanced at her. "My name is Lie Ren." Then he gave her a courtly bow.

He had recognised her name, Weiss thought, and shoved down the familiar sting of irritation and regret. She propped her hands on her hips and stared openly at her new partner. His skin was smooth and soft, his hair looked even softer, and while most of the boys she had seen in this school were muscular and tall, he was shorter and slimmer. And a pink streak in his hair...was he some sort of delinquent? Weiss couldn't imagine any other type of person putting a streak in his hair like that.

"Well, Lie Ren. It would appear that we're partners."

Lie didn't respond for several moments. "Yes, we are. Forgive me. I was...thinking of someone else."

"Oh," Weiss said, so startled that she actually took a step backwards. So Lie Ren had had someone else he wanted as a partner as well. She tapped her lip with a manicured nail and debated her options, then she tried to force a friendly smile onto her face. "You know, I'm sure nobody would actually _know."_

"I beg your pardon?" he asked, turning his full attention to her.

"I don't think anybody would know that you're the first person I saw. If, for example, we wanted to find different partners..." She trailed off enticingly. All she could think of was Pyrrha Nikos, in the flesh, in the locker room, the strongest girl in the world, the Invincible Girl, walking through the forest and stumbling across a different partner...

Lie Ren's face had gone very still. "I think that would be an unwise risk to take," he said finally. "Since we know the teachers are watching us..."

Weiss's face hardened, but Lie Ren just watched her, his pink eyes level. "You don't know that they're watching us!"

"They told us they would be."

Phooey. He was right. "Fine," she said. "Fine. Let's go."

"You know where the temple is?"

"Of course I do! It's in the northern end of the forest." Weiss strode off into the forest, not looking behind her to see if Lie Ren was following her.

"If it's in the north," Lie said (Weiss flinched; he was walking _right next to her_ ), "Why are we travelling west?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"We're travelling west."

"No we're not!"

"Do you see the sun?"

Weiss peered up at the sky. "No."

"That is because it's behind us. The sun rises in the east. As it's at our backs–"

"I understand, _thank_ you!" Weiss snapped. "Fine, which way is north?"

"That way," Lie said, pointing.

"Then let's go. We're wasting daylight." Weiss took off again, just as confidently as she had the first time. Again, she didn't look back to check if Lie was behind her.

Considering the undeniably quizzical way in which he was staring at her retreating back, this may have been for the best.

* * *

Ruby shifted from foot to foot as the girl continued to stare at her. "Uh...hi?" she ventured finally.

The redhead didn't respond. Her large blue eyes were wide and vacant and Ruby just couldn't look away from the hammer that was still held above her head with no sign of fatigue.

"So...we're...partners, now? I guess?"

Nothing. Nobody home.

"Heh...well, to be honest, I kind of thought you were my sister at first. Not that you look like her! But you sound like her. Not your voice! Because, y'know, you haven't said anything...but she blows stuff up too, and I heard the explosions, and I ran over, and then I ran into you! And you're looking at me...in the eyes...so we're...partners?" Ruby trailed off hopefully.

The girl lowered her hammer slowly. Ruby watched it go, but before it could brush the ground, the girl thumbed a button that converted it to a large grenade launcher, and raised it again. Ruby gritted her jaw, determined not to flinch, but the girl just tucked it away on a holder on the back of her shirt. Then her face rippled, she blinked once, and a huge grin broke out across her face. "That sounds so great!"

"It...does?" Ruby asked, nonplussed.

"Chyeah! I had to be partnered with someone, right? So what's your name? Ooh, what's your weapon? I like your hood, does it get hot? Does it get caught on things? It looks like it'd get caught on things."

"It doesn't get caught on things..."

"Well that's good! That'd be sooo embarrassing if it got caught on things."

Ruby considered mentioning a childhood incident involving her cape, a door handle and a particularly overloaded tray of cookies, and rapidly decided against it. She did, after all, want to leave this girl with a good impression. "It's fine." She struck a mature-looking pose. " _I_ can handle it!"

So it wasn't Yang, and so she had seemed a bit weird at first; at least this girl wasn't giving her grief for getting into Beacon early. It could have been worse, imagine what a trainwreck being partners with that Weiss girl would have been!

The girl interrupted Ruby's mental back-patting to gesture around them. "So where do we go from here? Do you know?"

"Uh, no," Ruby admitted. "I've just been heading north all day, y'know?"

"Ooh, do you know much about forests? I don't. I mean, I can get through them, but after a while I just get bored and start trying to smash my way through in a straight line and then it's like just a total mess."

"Sure, I know about forests! My dad–"

"Awesome! You'll have to tell me where to go, I have _nooooo_ idea."

"I can do that, that's fine, my dad taught–"

"Hey, how old are you?"

"What?"

"You look really young, how old are you?"

"Well, that's – I'm…fifteen?"

"Oh really? You look younger."

"Yeah, I kn–"

"So you never told me about your weapon! Is it red? You look like it'd be red, you know, 'cause of the cloak!"

Ruby stopped walking at stared at her. "Um…don't you care that I'm only fifteen?"

The girl cocked her head to the side. "Should I?" She sounded genuinely confused.

"Well…" Ruby shifted from side to side. "You're seventeen, right?"

"Pretty sure, yeah!" the girl said with a wide, beaming smile.

"Ok, so…I'm two years younger than you…"

She seemed to stop to think for a few minutes. "Yep! That sounds right."

"Well…" Ruby flailed helplessly. "Don't you _care_?"

"Nah!"

"Really?"

"I figure you either got in 'cause you earned it, or you snuck in and that is sooooooo cool that I don't even care! You know what they say, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere!"

Ruby felt like her heart could burst. " _Really_?"

The girl with the hammer slung a companionable arm around Ruby's shoulders. "Sure! 'Sides, it'll be fun, I'll get to be like your big sister!"

"I can't wait for you to meet my actual big sister," Ruby said enthusiastically. "You'll _really_ like her! Maybe we'll all get to be on a team together!"

"Oh…yeah, you mentioned her…" The girl's arm slipped from around Ruby's shoulders. "We should keep moving!"

"Sounds good!" Ruby said happily. This was shaping up to be the best friendship ever!

"Hey, by the way," the girl added.

"Yeah?"

"What's your name?"

* * *

Pyrrha dodged the beowolf and brought her shield up in time to intercept its mate. This was bad. This was _not good_. She needed her weapons to properly fight Grimm, and she had let herself get surrounded like an absolute fool. She backed away, trying to keep them all in view. There were three, it seemed, a big one, a smaller one, and a smallest one. Were they a family? Did Grimm form family groups?

The beowolf made a deep growling noise and reared up to roar at her. Classic predator behaviour: look at me, look at how big and scary I am. Don't cross me, because I'm _tall._ Pyrrha almost turned to face it, before a flicker of movement at the corner of her eye made her throw herself to the side. She hit the ground as the smallest beowolf pounced, landing where she had been seconds ago. Pyrrha scrambled to her feet, and let out a grunt as the middle beowolf lashed out, clipping her shoulder, spinning her, almost making her lose her grip on her shield.

This was not good.

She took a deep breath, then flung her shield. At the same time, she kicked out at the middle one, catching it in the muzzle. She twitched her fingers and her shield bounced off the smallest beowolf's face and into the largest one's stomach, then back to Pyrrha. The redhead caught it, then leaped off the ground to land on the back of the largest beowolf. Then, slinging her shield onto her back where it would hopefully catch any random attacks, she bounded to the ground and broke into a full-on sprint, battering leaves and branches away as she ran.

The forest flashed past. She could hear the beowolves behind her, panting and howling, chasing her, gaining on her. She vaulted logs and dodged trees, wary eyes on the ground so she didn't trip and break an ankle. The beowolves were gaining, she could feel the forest floor tremble beneath their pounding feet.

She needed some new terrain, she needed something to give her an edge, she needed...

A clearing! She could see the gaps in the trees up ahead. She sped up, running faster than she had ever thought possible, and broke through the underbrush. At the last second Pyrrha saw a massive yellow object hurtling at her face, and she dropped to her knees and leaned back out of sheer instinct, sliding forwards under the attack. As the adrenaline stretched the scene out into action-movie slow-mo, she could see that what had looked like a golden comet was actually a gauntlet, and it was attached to an arm that led to a body, above which a familiar face hovered. It was that blonde girl, who looked as confused as Pyrrha, especially when a beowolf followed Pyrrha out of the forest and ran right into the fist.

The girl's gauntlet fired with a noise like a shotgun, sending the beowolf flying back into a tree. The tree snapped; the beowolf did not move again. Before Pyrrha could yell a warning, the other two emerged from the trees. The blonde threw herself into a backflip as Pyrrha rolled to her feet, facing the Grimm, shield in front of her. The beowolves charged without hesitation, and the girl landed on her feet, then amazingly she fired both gauntlets, launching herself _forward_ to meet the largest beowolf head-on. She slammed her fist into its jaw in a brutal uppercut, then she turned, ducking under its flailing paws as it fell back, and elbowed it in the stomach. The blow, augmented by another blast from her gauntlets, lifted the beowolf into the air and sent it crashing back to the ground.

The blonde turned to face the third beowolf, but it was already lifting its paw to swipe at her. Pyrrha sprinted forwards and lifted her shield, catching the blow with a grunt of effort and redirecting it, sending the beowolf staggering to the side. Behind her, the blonde leapt into the air and fired two blasts at the beowolf over Pyrrha's head, slamming it against the ground. Pyrrha shifted her grip on the shield, launched herself into the air for some momentum, and then with a yell of effort, she brought her shield down onto the beowolf's neck.

It let out a confused little whine, and then its head dropped free of its body and rolled to bump against the blonde girl's foot.

They stood there for a few moments, looking around them as the Grimm began to disintegrate. Pyrrha readjusted her shield and turned to the other girl. "I believe we are safe for the moment."

"That was fun," the girl said conversationally. Then she looked down and gave the disintegrating head a vicious kick. "Gotta ask, though, why didn't you just shoot it?"

This was so embarrassing... "I'm afraid I don't quite have my weapon with me," Pyrrha admitted.

"Really? You drop it?"

"Something like that."

"Well, whatever. This was much more fun anyway." The blonde girl propped her hands on her hips and gave Pyrrha the once-over. She had the sort of figure Pyrrha had once longed for, curved like a violin, with long legs and longer hair. Her eyes – hadn't they been red before? – were a deep, startling amethyst. "I'm Yang Xiao Long, by the way."

"Hello! My name is Pyrrha Nikos."

"Sure, I've seen you fight before. On television." She glanced around the clearing, and scratched her head. "Uh, sorry for almost punching you in the face."

Pyrrha smiled briefly. "No harm done." Yang would have to move a lot faster than _that_ before she came close to punching Pyrrha Nikos in the face.

Yang grinned at Pyrrha. "So we're partners now, right? I mean, I looked you in the eye when I almost took your block off."

"Of course! It will be an honour," Pyrrha said, smiling so that there was warmth in her voice. It had been one of the earliest interview tips she had received and one of the only ones that had consistently paid off.

Yang laughed. "You bet!"

That was – not the usual reaction. Even less common were the blonde's next words: "Guess I'll protect you. Just until we find your weapon. You remember where you dropped it?"

"I didn't quite drop it," Pyrrha hedged.

"So you know where it is?"

"Not quite." She had gotten very turned around in the flight from the beowolves.

Yang looked impatient. "So what gives?"

"I threw it at another student."

Yang gave Pyrrha a long, long look. "Okaaaaaay... Whhhhyyyyy?"

"Do you know Jaune Arc?" Pyrrha began.

"Oh, okay, say no more," Yang said immediately. "That is all my questions answered."

Pyrrha blinked. "Oh. Well...really?"

"Well duh. I mean, I think I saw him talking to you and that snooty white-haired girl this morning, right?"

"I threw my javelin at him because I thought he needed _help,"_ Pyrrha said. "I would never assault someone over a simple conversation!"

Yang gave her an irritated look. "It's not assault if it's just a _threat_."

Pyrrha bit her lip, then said rather tentatively, "I believe it still is."

"Huh. You learn something new every day," Yang muttered.

"I'm sorry, I misunderstood you," Pyrrha said in a conciliatory tone. "It seemed to me that Jaune's landing strategy was not optimally suited for the task at hand, and I was attempting to assist him."

"That's nice of you," Yang said, back to being sunny. "So I guess he'll have your spear, don't you think?"

It was a _javelin_. "I believe so, yes," Pyrrha agreed.

"So let's find Jaune!"

"I believe it might be more efficient to head for the ruins that Professor Ozpin mentioned. After all, if that is the target then–"

"Yeah, ok," Yang said cheerfully, cutting Pyrrha off. "Let's boogy! I'll take point!"

"As I have a shield–" Pyrrha began.

"Where's the fun in that?" Yang strode off into the forest, calling out behind her in a far-too-loud tone, "Come on, partner, we got artefacts to find and ruins to make!"

Pyrrha looked at the beacon of gold. She didn't know how she felt, but she knew Yang was right. They had artefacts to find and ruins to – wait, _what_?

* * *

Jaune pushed at the tree branch. It didn't bend, so he pushed again. It broke, and he stumbled forwards, hitting the ground, tree branch clutched securely in his free hand.

"Ah, heheheh," he mumbled nervously, tossing it aside and trying to look like that's what he had been planning to do the whole time.

He was pretty sure he was lost, to be honest. He had been heading north all day – he thought – but the forest was so _big_. How did anyone know where anything was? Luckily he hadn't come across any Grimm.

Was this normal, for highschool? Monster hunting highschool, to be fair, but – launching your students off the top of a cliff, into a forest full of monsters, and telling them to get their hands on something or die trying? Was that, like, usual?

He had been expecting classes, in classrooms, and training simulators.

"Guess this is a pretty good simulation," he mumbled to himself. "Heh…a map that's so useful as to become the terrain ceases to be the map, right?"

Something rustled in the bushes next to him, and he spun around, backing up, trying to remember all he had read about combat against Grimm. He fumbled his shield out, and it unfurled with a mechanical 'click!' "Who – whoever's there, I'm armed!" he called. "And I have a shield!"

The forest fell silent. He hesitated, then took a tentative step forward, and then another.

The wind blew, settling the leaves on the tree dancing and swaying. He paused, then glanced up at the sky. Yep, still going the right way. He started to look back ahead, then a flicker of movement caught his eye.

It was a butterfly, a beautiful black and orange butterfly. "Aw," Jaune said, beaming at it. "Pretty." A metaphor, or a simile – he was never clear on which was which – but the message was clear: even in the wilderness, there was beauty and tranquillity. He could learn a lot from his little butterfly friend. The butterfly twitched its wings idly, and he took a swift step back so that it would have plenty of room to take off.

There was a whirlwind of movement out of the corner of his eyes and something massive landed in front of him. A thunderbolt hit his shield, and he fell back with a startled cry. Jaune hit the ground and scrambled back, trying to draw his limbs up behind the shield.

A massive old ursa rose up and let out a disgruntled snuffling noise, then turned slowly and ponderously towards him. Jaune groped for his sword, realised he was still holding Pyrrha's javelin, and went to drop it. Before he had a chance to do anything, though, the ursa straightened, let out a puzzled grunt, and slowly, like a tree under the weight of snow, it toppled to the side.

Jaune stared at the downed ursa, then a flicker of movement caught his eye. A fine black ribbon was leading out from the ursa's skull, into the bushes. He hefted his shield carefully; the bushes rustled again and another black and white shape stepped out. Jaune flinched back, but it was just a pale girl with black hair, dressed in black and white.

"Oh thank Oum," he blurted out before he could stop himself, adrenaline making his voice high and thready. "I thought you were a Grimm!"

The girl took a slight step back, her eyes widening and her lips thinning, and Jaune realised what he had just said. "Oh, Oum, I'm sorry!" Jaune exclaimed. "Sorry, sorry, that was a really dumb thing to say. You just – uh, thanks! For the ursa. And, uh, for not clobbering me for calling you a Grimm." He gave her a rueful grin, and to his relief, after a moment she returned it, a tiny little smile. It made her cold, beautiful face a little more lifelike, but it vanished almost instantly.

"It's fine," she said. "You're welcome." With an expert flick of her wrist, she freed her weapon and caught it in the same movement. Then she looked at him, her head tilted to the side.

"I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc." Jaune considered adding his 'short and sweet' line, but decided against it at the last minute. This girl was going to be his partner, and besides, something about her did not invite levity. Maybe it was her level golden eyes, or maybe it was the stillness of her face that suggested that smiling was not her first impulse on most occasions.

"I'm Blake," she said. "Belladonna."

"Nice to meet you," Jaune said. "I think I saw you last night, reading, right?"

"Perhaps." She gave him an appraising look. "You know you're bleeding?"

"Oh, really?" He reached up and felt his cheek. Sure enough, there was a cut there, and a thin trail of blood making its ambling way down his face. "Oh, gross, I'm leaking. Sorry."

She raised an eyebrow. "You don't have to apologise to me. Are you alright?"

"Sure! I'm fine, thanks to you." He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and carefully dabbed his cheek, then folded it neatly and put it away. Blake's eyes followed his movements, and he fancied he saw a look of curiosity or surprise on her face. "What?" Jaune asked, defensive.

"You carry _handkerchiefs_?" He couldn't decide what her tone was, but he was _pretty_ sure there was some incredulity in there.

"Sure, don't you?"

She stared at him for a moment. "No."

Jaune shrugged at her. "They're more useful than you think."

"Ok..." she said, not sounding like he had convinced her at all.

"So, we should head for that temple, right?" Jaune asked hastily. "Go get that artefact?"

"I suppose so," Blake said, sounding unenthusiastic.

"Not that I think we'll have any problem finding it," Jaune said. Women loved confidence, right? Right? "I know a bit about the woods" – from books he had read – "and you're clearly an amazing fighter, so I think we'll be fine."

"I'm not that amazing."

"Are you kidding?" Jaune asked. "You took that ursa down with one strike. If that's not amazing, then I don't know what is."

A startled, pleased look came over Blake's face, for just a moment, so quickly that Jaune wondered if he had imagined it. Before he could decide either way, she turned and looked out at the forest. "Guess we should get started."

"Sure. Let's go, partner." He beamed at her, and to his pleasure, she smiled back, a small, fleeting smile that this time lingered in her eyes.

* * *

Ren and Weiss had been walking in silence for almost an hour when the heiress finally spoke again. "So, Lie, tell me something about yourself."

"Well, most people call me Ren," Ren said.

"And you can call me Weiss," she said benevolently.

"That's very kind of you," Ren deadpanned.

Weiss shot him a suspicious look, but before she could say anything a rumbling growl sounded.

Without another word Ren and Weiss stopped. Ren took a quick step to the right to place his back to Weiss's, and drew his weapons. Weiss did the same.

"That sounded like a beowolf," Ren said softly, eyes scanning the forest.

Weiss pressed herself against Ren's back and took a deep breath. _Remember your training, Weiss. You can do this. Just remember what you've learned._

"Beowolves rarely travel alone," Ren added. "We should be prepared for at least five of them."

"That's _assuming_ it's a beowolf," Weiss snapped.

She felt Ren's shoulders rise as he took a long, deep breath and then released it. _Oh, he's nervous,_ Weiss thought, feeling a rare surge of affection. _How endearing._ "This will be fine," she said in an encouraging tone. "We can handle a clutch of Grimm."

The trees rustled and parted, and at least fifteen Beowolves prowled into the clearing, their eyes on Ren and Weiss, their ears twitching.

Weiss took a deep breath of her own, and her hand tightened on Myrtenaster's hilt.

* * *

"I think we're lost," Ruby said to Nora.

"Nah," she replied confidently. "We're heading north."

"How do you know?" Ruby asked, jogging a few steps to keep up with her.

"I always know what direction I'm going."

"But how?"

Nora shrugged. "I just do."

Ruby sighed. They were making good time – Nora's energy seemed endless – but she still chafed at the slow pace. "This forest is more boring than I was expecting."

"I know, right?" Nora exclaimed. "It's like, where are all the Grimm? I thought this place was going to be fun!"

"I know!" Ruby agreed. "They gypped us!"

"Ooh, we should seek revenge. We could steal the headmaster's coffee cup, or, oh! We could dye that crabby professor's skin green, or maybe, what if we told all the newspapers that Beacon was actually run by Grimm?"

Ruby burst out laughing. "Let's do the last one, let's definitely do the last one!"

"And then we'll smuggle an ursa into the headmaster's study, and put a pair of glasses on its nose and we'll pretend that Ozpin turns into a Grimm!"

"Uh huh," Ruby said a bit distractedly, leaning back to look at the sky. "Hey, Nora…"

"Yes?"

"Is that birdie following us?"

"That's a nevermore, so, probably!"

The two girls watched the massive Grimm circling overhead for a few minutes. "Bet that thing knows where the temple is," Nora added a bit wistfully.

Like a spark in a drought-stricken forest, an idea blossomed in Ruby's mind. "You know what, Nora? I'll bet you're right..."

* * *

Blake and Jaune stared at the cave mouth. "You think this is the temple?" Blake asked, sounding doubtful.

"Sure," Jaune said confidently. "I read about those old ruins in a book a couple of years ago, and all the ancient civilisations built in places like this, so the Grimm couldn't get 'em!"

"I've read about those civilisations too," Blake said. "Recently. This still doesn't look like a temple to me."

"It has to be, it's the only thing we've found," Jaune said. "Plus, look, they've built an entrance, right?"

Blake had to admit, the stone had definitely been worked...

"And it can't hurt to check it out, right?" Jaune added cheerfully.

"I suppose not," she said, letting him lead the way into the dark cave.

The floor was rough and uneven underfoot, and Jaune stumbled several times. Blake followed him in silence, her doubt growing. This did _not_ look like a temple...

A meaty thud from ahead made her wince. She stopped when Jaune did, and watched him bend over and clutch his head. "Eugh...Guess we should have made a torch, huh?"

Blake hesitated, torn between her desire to offer to lead and her fear of what he might realise if she did so. Before she could do anything, though, a dim glow suddenly rose up in front of them, from around an outcropping of rock. Jaune straightened, and turned to beam at Blake. "See! I told you this was it!"

Blake's instincts were going crazy, and she hesitated again. Would he listen if she – But it was too late, Jaune had already strode confidently towards the light. She followed him around the outcropping, then without another word she turned to run.

Humanity hadn't built a temple here; they had built a prison.

* * *

"This place is so quiet," Yang complained, swinging her arms.

Pyrrha didn't bother responding. As far as she could tell it hadn't been a question, and at least one of them needed to be paying attention to the forest. As the member of the team without a weapon, she felt that was her responsibility more than Yang's.

"I mean seriously, I've seen like three Grimm. I thought this place was supposed to be fun!"

"I heard gunshots earlier," Pyrrha volunteered. "I believe our comrades have engaged the enemy."

Yang perked up almost instantly. "Gunfire? Why didn't you say anything? We could've gone to help!"

"It was earlier this morning. Before I found you."

"Before we ran into each other, you mean?" Yang asked, turning around and walking backwards for a few paces to see Pyrrha's face.

Pyrrha just gave her a blank smile, wondering why Yang was grinning; it was an accurate enough description. Yang sighed and turned to face the front again.

"Maybe there'll be Grimm at this temple thing. 'D you see those pillars we passed?"

Pyrrha blinked. "No, what pillars?"

Yang shrugged and gestured over her shoulder. "There were some pillars about half an hour back. They were pretty overgrown, I think one was actually holding up a tree. Anyway, pretty sure they mean we're heading in the right direction."

Pyrrha eyed her partner with new respect. She hadn't noticed anything. "You'll have to forgive me. I feel very foolish for missing them."

Yang shrugged again. "Don't sweat it."

After a few minutes of walking in silence she began to hum tunelessly. Pyrrha gritted her teeth; part of her wanted to complain, but after the pillar-revelation, she didn't entirely feel she had grounds to. Instead, she continued scanning the forest carefully. Trees, moss, boulders – boulders?

"Look on the ground," she said swiftly. "Those are more pillars, aren't they? They've been knocked over."

"Yep," Yang said, bending over them. "Carved like the other ones are." She reached down and ran a hand over the rock. "But these were knocked over recently. Look at the grass under them, these've only been like this for a little while."

Pyrrha's grip on her shield tightened. "So the question is, what knocked them over."

Yang's eyes gleamed red. "Something _fun_ , I bet."

"I must confess, I would prefer to avoid Grimm at this point," Pyrrha said apologetically. "Since I only have my shield..."

"Ah, don't worry about it! I told you, I'll look after you," Yang said confidently, clapping Pyrrha on the shoulder.

Pyrrha staggered, and for an irrational moment she found herself wondering how strong Yang was. Then she staggered again, and this time noticed Yang doing the same. Both girls looked around as the ground thumped a third time. The trees rustled, and parted, and a massive Boarbatusk bounded into view.


End file.
